There are still a great many people, despite the mounting and undeniable volumes of scientific evidence, who believe that climate change is a myth. Fortunately, it seems that world leaders are coming around to the fact that climate change is very real and is the most clear and present danger to human kind. Forget nuclear weapons and terrorism, a warming earth is the most dangerous possible thing to human kind. The Paris Climate Change Summit helped to at least get leaders to acknowledge this and do something about it. If we do not stop the earth warming at the rate that it is – mostly due to CO2 emissions – then our cities, and indeed entire states – could end up underwater, gone forever.

The glaciers are melting at a very alarming rate, in both hemispheres. Greenland and Iceland and the Arctic ice sheets in the north are breaking away and melting at a rate never before witnessed. The glaciers in the mountains of Africa, as well as the huge sheets of ice in Patagonia are also breaking away and retreating.

And that brings us to Malta. There is no doubt that the weather has been changing. It seems that we are experiencing warmer winters every year, and summer has also become a bit odd with rain and winds taking over until July, before it gets scorching hot. But it has only been the last couple of years that we have experiences truly out of character weather. 2015 was ushered in with 0 degrees Celsius weather on New Year’s Eve, followed by snow. August last year saw Malta being battered with rainstorms and winds that are normally prevalent towards the end of September and October. Science has shown us that this is a reality. But what about our older and wiser citizens? In today’s issue, we spoke to a number of farmers who have expressed real concern at the way that the unseasonable weather has created a partial drought in Malta. They say that the soil is so dry that they cannot even grow winter crops, let alone what is going to happen in the summer. They also pointed out that the warm weather has led to a proliferation of bugs which are normally killed off by the cold, which is, in turn, leading to the ruin of crops that are being ravaged by bugs, snails and other pests.

The said that this year, Malta has only had  177mm of rain so far this winter when the average for this time of years is around 500mm. The issue is also affecting the water table and consumption of irrigation waters at an alarming scale. Farmers said they believe that their produce will be smaller in size to what it normally is this year because the plants cannot draw enough water from the soil. This is leading to a lot of drip irrigation use, which puts a strain on agricultural water supply. The effects of climate change are two-fold. We will not burn to death in the sun as many Hollywood movies predict. It will be a slow process where food stops growing and water reservoirs will be drained in the attempts of growing food. Non man-induced climate change has wiped out entire communities in the past. If we are not careful, we will seal out own doom. Increased carbon dioxide will allow poisonous algae to proliferate in the sea, turning it acidic. The signs are there for all to see. It will only be when we fell the last tree that we realise that we cannot eat, drink or breathe money. Greed is looking very likely to be our downfall.